Amelia and the Bareback Rider
by April in Paris
Summary: In which our protagonist travels with her beloved and discovers that decisions made in her past could affect her future, forcing her to defend what she loves most. AU - COOPMELIA #3
1. Chapter 1

**In which our protagonist travels with her beloved and discovers that decisions made in her past could affect her future, forcing her to defend what she loves most.**

 **Amelia and the Bareback Rider**

 **Chapter One**

* * *

Even though she knew exactly what to expect, it shocked her. The sudden, forceful yanking from inside her belly button, as though she was water swirling down a drain. The flash of light so bright she closed her eyes, but still her retinas burned. The high pitched sound, just on the edge of something, in the middle of her brain, even beyond her ears, that made her dizzy. Her skin felt like it was shimmering and crawling away, and it made her nauseous. There was only one sure, solid thing in those seconds of terror: she squeezed Cooper's hand tighter.

Then, suddenly, it was over. Amelia slumped sideways in her seat, resting her shoulder against his. He rummaged in a pocket of his jacket and took out a Hersey bar, breaking off a piece and handing it to her. "Here, try this."

"Chocolate?" Amelia asked.

Cooper shrugged. "I thought that if it worked for Harry Potter after he apparates, it might work for us, too."

Taking a bite, Amelia protested, "Spoilers! You know I'm still reading 1950's literature. I just finished _Lolita_."

He chuckled.

"What?" Amelia asked. She had to admit she _was_ feeling better.

"Spoilers," Cooper replied, swallowing his own bite of chocolate. "You'll see. We just haven't made it to that show yet." He took a deep breath. "Better? Shall we?"

Amelia nodded, and twisted the handle on the door next to her. She stepped out into the grove of trees, Cooper behind her. They stretched and walked to the edge of the ridge, looking down into the valley.

"It looks so tiny from here," Amelia said.

"It is. The population won't reach 50,000 for another three years. But it's already a booming city," Cooper said.

"I've never been to a big city before. Well, you know what I mean," she added quickly.

Cooper nodded. "Me, neither."

"It's so exciting!" Amelia cheered. "And, finally, we're both on equal footing."

"I guess we are." They stood a moment, looking down at the city, letting the idea of a new experience for both of them at the same time sink in. Finally, Cooper said, "Let's go over the plan one more time."

"Cooper, you've been drilling me for days!"

"You can never be too prepared."

"Okay. First, we go to a store to buy stationary. Hopefully a stationary store, so that we can buy the most expensive kind. This will both allow us to both break our paper money for coins and to establish the premise that we are newly-rich gold prospectors from the north. If that is successful, and our money is not questioned, we will locate a rooming house. I will write my letter and post it as soon as possible. And then we wait a whole week before we leave." The last sentence was said with a mild pout.

"Because?" Cooper prodded.

"Because we need my letter with the train details to arrive, otherwise no one will be there to meet us," Amelia grumbled.

"I know you're eager, Amelia, but it's not all bad. Didn't you just say how excited you were to be in the big city? We'll need the time to acclimate and purchase new clothing. Plus, I am hopeful I can tour and get some background information on the fledging science program at The State Normal School, soon to be known as UCLA. This will add credibility to the second part of our journey. Come on, let's get the suitcases."

Amelia followed him back to the time machine to retrieve the two almost-empty suitcases that she had spent weeks locating on eBay. "I still don't think it's fair that you get to go tour and interact with other intellectuals, and I only get to concern myself with clothes."

"I'm sorry, I really am. I'd rather have you along. But you can't blame me for the rampant sexism of the 19th-century," Cooper replied. He used a small fob in his hand to lock the time machine and set what he called, with more glee than Amelia could understand, the cloaking device. "Okay, let's hope that holds. It's all been theory up until now."

He passed the silver fob to Amelia, and she threaded it through the chain around her neck. Herman and Raajeev had helped them create something that could pass as a very unusual and very ugly family heirloom if necessary. She would make sure it was attractive next time, after it had been proven this new technology of Cooper's would work.

Cooper smiled at her, and she smiled back. He passed her the smaller suitcase.

"Are you ready to take Los Angles 1887 by storm?" Amelia asked.

"Of course. Just remember our escape plan. In case our ruse doesn't work, and we have to flee as counterfeiters." He voice held a warning tone, but he put his elbow out to her.

Amelia smiled and took it. "Either way, it will be an adventure."

* * *

No sooner had they shut the door behind them, that Amelia burst out in laughter, which was very difficult in the tight dress she was wearing.

"What's so funny?" Cooper asked, grinning himself.

"We did it! We did it! No one questioned the money!" She put her arms around Cooper's neck, and he obliged her with twirl.

"Did you ever doubt me? Or that expensive color printer I bought?" he asked.

"Not for a second. Although there was a moment there I thought I might pass out. Stupid corset!" Amelia put her hand on her stomach and tried to take in as much air as she could.

"Wow, this room is nicer than I expected," Cooper said, looking around.

"You did ask for directions to the newest rooming house in the city," Amelia reminded him.

"And it paid off, didn't it, little lady? Indoor plumbing down the hall!"

"Don't! Don't make me laugh again! Not in this corset!" Amelia said, clutching her stomach, her lungs fighting for more air. She looked around the room. It was nice. Better than nice. It was the most elegant room she had ever seen with beautiful velvet curtains around the bed and a lovely carved mantelpiece at the fireplace.

"I really wish you hadn't felt it necessary to wear such a thing. I wish I could convince you to have your new dresses made so you could wear them without it," Cooper said.

"A lady always wears a corset in the big city, Cooper. We're not in Kansas in any more."

They locked eyes, and this time they burst out laughing together.

* * *

"Amelia, are you crying?"

She had shaken her head, all those months ago, but when she reached up to touch her cheek, it was damp and the tears upon her fingers reflected green and red from the Christmas tree lights.

"What's wrong?" Cooper asked even more softly, reaching for the remote to stop the movie. "It's a happy ending. It's all a dream. And even before that, in the dream, the Cowardly Lion gets his courage and the Tin Man his heart."

Turning in her spot on the sofa, next to her husband of a month, Amelia took a deep breath. "Can I say something? And you'll listen to it all, until I'm done?"

Cooper's eyebrows dipped. "Of course. I don't like that you feel you have to ask permission."

"No, it's just that - " she took a deep breath "- seeing this movie, that farm in Kansas, all the family together at the end . . . I want to go home, Cooper." She rushed to put her hand on his arm, even as his face fell. "Just to visit. I miss my parents and my brother and my horses and I want you to meet them all."

It was his turn to take a deep breath. "You want me to meet your parents?"

Amelia felt her heart sinking. "Yes, of course, why wouldn't I? You're my husband."

He looked away from her for a minute. "They've never met me. They know nothing about me. It would be reasonable, I think, for them to assume that your sudden absence was all my fault . . ."

"No, they'd love you, I'm just sure they would. I told you I left a note, explaining I was leaving to get married." She used her fingertips to tilt his face back toward her. "Besides, I want to show you off. You're so brilliant and handsome."

That look that wasn't quite a smile yet. "Well, when you put it like that . . . I am quite the stud."

"So that's a yes?" Amelia turned quickly, pivoting even closer to Cooper.

Another deep breath but then he nodded. "We can go this weekend."

"Oh." She shook her head. "No."

Again, his eyebrows dipped. "Why not?"

"Because you just cannot go showing up unannounced on people's farms in a time machine, wearing strange tee shirts and expect them to like you!"

"But it worked out so well last time!" Now it was a full grin.

"Cooper, I'm serious!"

"Okay, what's your plan?"

"My plan?" she croaked. Cooper took her hand and nodded. "Honestly, I haven't formed a plan. But I think we should find a way to give them a bit of warning, a letter maybe. And we need to arrive in a way that wouldn't frightened them. In normal clothes - you know what I mean. And - oh, never mind."

"No, go on, these are all good ideas," Cooper squeezed her fingers.

"And, well . . . " she looked down at her lap before looking up again, jutting her chin out a bit. "I don't think you should just go around telling people about the future, about computers and living past thirty. It's too much. They might think you're crazy."

"Did you think I was crazy?" he raised a single devastating eyebrow.

"No, of course not, I thought you were . . . " Amelia blushed and looked down. 'Handsome. Intriguing. A dream come true,' she thought. "Lots of things. Including that the situation was a little strange."

Cooper wove his fingers through hers. "I thought you were lots of things, too." Before she could reply, he cleared his throat. "So you think we need a cover story? A historically plausible explanation and means of arrival? And some sort of non-disclosure and non-interference clause?"

"Yes," Amelia said firmly. But then she bit her lip. "But it should be your plan. It's your time machine. And you're, well, the head of this household."

Cooper snorted. Actually snorted. "Your head? What is this, Leviticus? Please don't ever say that again. You know more about the situation, I want your input and ideas. You're brilliant; look how fast you're tearing through your lessons! And it's _our_ time machine, so it should be _our_ plan. Just like it's _our_ marriage. We're equals." Then he softened his tone. "Where's my headstrong wife? Where's that girl who yelled at me and accused me of trespassing? Complete with hands on her hips and stomping her feet? The one who reached out to touch my hand first?"

"I never stomped! I am not a bull!" Amelia protested.

"Ah, there she is!" He leaned into her neck. "Mmmmm . . . my Amelia is rapidly becoming quite the suffragette . . . I like it."

* * *

"Good news!" Cooper said, as he opened and shut the door to their room. She wasn't surprised, she had been looking out the window watching the streetcar, waiting for him to come back, thinking about that conversation on the sofa at Christmas. "Our timing was perfect. I was able to catch the last load of mail headed east today. And I was able to bribe that very helpful young man downstairs to bring our dinner up on plates to our room."

Amelia turned away from the window to see Cooper loosening his cravat. "We're not going to eat downstairs with the other guests?"

"We have all week for that. Aren't you exhausted from all the excitement?" he asked, approaching her.

"Actually, yes. And it would be nice to get these clothes off." She reached up for the top button on her shirtwaist. Then Cooper's hand was there, stalling her. "Cooper?"

He kissed her, and then he leaned closer to her ear, whispering, "I'm wearing a costume . . ." he rubbed his cheek against hers as he switched to the other ear, stopping to kiss her again in the middle, ". . . you're wearing a costume . . ."

"I thought you said you were exhausted."

"Not quite enough, it seems." He kissed her harder as he reached up to start unhooking her buttons himself.

"But you said they'd be bringing our plates soon."

"I may have let it slip we were on our honeymoon, and to please leave the plates outside the door with a knock."

Losing her willpower as Cooper's tongue found its way into her mouth, Amelia almost gave in. But then she pushed him away. "But it's too early to go to bed."

"So?" Her shirtwaist was almost completely unbuttoned now.

"People didn't do _that_ in the early evening in 1887."

Cooper lightly brushed his hand along the top of her bosom, which was pushed up higher by her undergarments. "How do you know? Or maybe we're the ones that gave everyone the idea. Amelia and Cooper, time traveling sexual trend setters. Now, is their enough room for me under this delightful bustle?"

This time when he kissed her, she gave in, sliding her arm under his jacket and up along his muscular back. "Well, when you put it that way . . ."

* * *

Amelia opened the window to the stifling carriage, and managed to squeeze her head through, hanging it out in the wind.

"What are you doing?" She heard Cooper ask from his seat across from her in their private sleeping compartment, his voice almost lost in the air rushing past.

"Look! The prairie! I'm trying to smell it!"

Cooper laughed and stood to lower his own window, and his head popped out next to her. He watched the train curling in front of them, black smoke billowing out of the engine. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" he yelled over the clickety-clack of the wheels.

Laughing herself, Amelia pulled her head in before her hair became wind-swept. Adult up-does were too much work to risk losing it all. "I was talking about the prairie, not the train."

Cooper brought his head in with a smile. "Yes, the prairie is a nice background for the train."

If Amelia had thought she was excited to take her first ever train ride, she had no idea how excited Cooper would be. With all the modern wonders and conveniences, it was this old-fashioned form of transport that left him rambling facts to her, long after she would rather just read or sleep or watch the scenery out the window. No wonder he'd agreed so readily to her proposal that they find a historically accurate way to return to Kansas, a way that would explain her absence.

Flushed with joy, flushed with success, Amelia smiled back. She was finally going home, and everything was even better than she'd anticipated. Cooper looked so dashing in his new clothes; they had spared no expense to have finest clothes made from the finest cloth in such short notice. There was no limit to what fine things she could buy with their counterfeit money. However, at this moment, she also felt flushed with heat.

"It's already so hot, though. I'm beginning to regret the timing," Amelia said.

"You picked the time. After everything was planted, but before anything needs harvesting. You said the work-load would be the lightest it would be all summer," Cooper reminded her.

"I know. It will be." She walked over to the little mirror on the wall. "I need to fix my hair before we go to the dining car."

Coming up behind her, Cooper kissed what little of her neck was visible over the high collar of her blouse.

"Stop it. I have to fix my hair," Amelia grumbled, pulling out a pin.

"I have to get all my kisses in now. There is no way I'm kissing you in that loft."

Amelia chuckled. "I think you wanted to, once."

He kissed her neck again. "You have no idea."

"Seriously, Cooper, you're in the way," Amelia said, softer this time.

"Please, one more? Otherwise I'll be forced to kiss you in the dining car," he mumbled, pulling the lace collar away.

Gasping, Amelia said, "Don't you dare kiss me in the middle of the dining car! Everyone will see!"

"Maybe I'll kiss you in the middle of the dining car like everyone's been waiting years to see it." He gave her neck one more quick peck.

* * *

They only had to stand and wait on the platform for a few minutes, before Amelia saw him approaching.

"There he is! Pa! Pa!" she waved her arms excitedly.

He looked just like she remembered. Her face almost aching from the broad smile upon it, she couldn't wait to see him smile back. But he didn't. By the time he was in front of them, Amelia was fighting off a terrible urge to throw her arms around him and hug him. But that just wasn't done in public in 1887, and she knew it. She had to satisfy herself with "Oh, Pa, it's so good to see you again!"

Pa bent down to pick up one of the suitcases and nodded at Amelia. "Likewise."

"Pa, this is my husband, Professor Cooper Shelton." Amelia could hear the pride in her voice. Here, finally all together in one state and one time, everyone she loved. She had wanted Cooper to meet her father for so long.

Cooper put his hand out. "Pleased to meet you, sir. Amelia has told me so much about you."

Her father slid his eyes over to Cooper, but then looked back at Amelia. "Come. Your mother will be waiting on us."

Then he turned and walked toward the wagon without another glance at Cooper and his still outstretched hand.

To be continued . . .

* * *

 ** _As with my other_ Amelia _works, this short story would not be possible without the tireless skills of my dear friend and beta, Melissa, who puts all of her historical knowledge to work for me. Despite that, any errors that remain are 100% mine alone._**

 ** _Our little Amelia is growing up, and, at this point, I feel_** ** _I can say what I'm writing is fanfiction of Amy's world. Just like other fanfictions, I have taken the characters, the locations, and the plot points of her world and expanded them by filling in the missing scenes, explaining what I believed happened afterwards, attempting to round out their personalities, and helping them mature. This story is - I hope! - what all of the best fanfiction is: an ode, an homage, a sonnet of appreciation._**

 ** _With that long-winded author's note out of the way, let me say, as always, thank you in advance for your reviews!_**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

* * *

The ride home was stifling. 'It's the heat,' Amelia thought, her eyes looking around as they left the relatively urban town of Independence for the wilderness beyond, all grass and crops and sun and sky. The air was still around her, as she sat in the front seat of the wagon next to Pa, Cooper sitting in the bed with their suitcases behind her. She wanted to turn around and give him a smile, but she felt all jostled, by the motion of the wagon and the silence from her father. An hour and an half they rode, and not a single word.

Finally, the wagon went up a small crest and the plain spread out before her: the cabin, the barn, the outhouse, the well, the clothesline, a scattering of trees. Just beyond the barn, another small rise that hid the spot where Cooper had crash landed, all those months ago. The horses instinctively picked up the pace, just as Amelia's heart did, renewed by the sight of home.

Just as they pulled into the yard, Ma and David came out of the house, Ma wiping her hands on her apron. Amelia wanted to jump down, to run and hug them both, but her dress prevented this action. That's another thing she couldn't wait to do: race to the loft, take off her traveling suit and corset, put on a looser, younger dress, take her hair down and braid it again.

Amelia waited patiently for one of the men to come to her side of the wagon with their hand outstretched to assist her. Pa was close; he had walked around to run his hand along Brownie's flank, but he seemed oblivious to her. Uncomfortable, Amelia was forced to wait for Cooper to scramble out of the wagon and realize what she needed before he finally came to her rescue. Smiling warmly at him, Amelia put her arms out as he lowered her to ground. She saw Pa turn away and shake his head softly.

On any other day, she might have pondered the meaning of this action, but today all she wanted to do was run around the wagon and see her family.

"David!" she gasped. "Look how tall you've gotten!" She put her arms out to hug him, but he stepped away, his eyes cast down. What had happened to her little freckle-faced brother? It had only been eight months - to them - since she'd left. Had he gotten shy and forgetful as well as tall in that time?

David shrugged softly. Cooper came up next to Amelia and put his hand out. "Professor Cooper Shelton. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Looking startled for a minute, David shook Cooper's hand, although it seemed a little weak to Amelia. 'He is just a boy, still,' she thought.

"And Ma! Oh, Cooper, this is my mother!"

Repeating his same phrase, Cooper put his hand out again. Ma took it and shook it. "Sir."

"Please call me Cooper."

Ma nodded and released his hand, but did not offer any clues as to what Cooper should call her. The four of them took in silence for a minute, and then the wagon started to move away behind them. David took off running, toward the barn.

"Our suitcases!" Amelia yelled.

"I'll get them," Cooper said, jogging behind the moving wagon.

"Well," Ma said, shielding her eyes as she watched everyone else leave, "I suppose you'd best come inside."

* * *

Ham. Mashed potatoes. Green beans. Bread. Amelia had thought she was starving for her mother's cooking, but she found herself endlessly pushing beans around and into the potatoes. 'It's too hot to eat,' she reasoned.

"So . . . Cooper," Ma finally said over the five solemn heads, "you're a professor?"

Cooper wiped his mouth before he replied, "Yes, I teach at the State Normal School in Los Angeles."

"That's nice," Ma said.

Amelia waited for another comment, but everyone looked back down at their plates. No, not everyone. Pa had never looked up. "Tell them what you do," Amelia prompted. "He's a leader in his field."

Cooper paused and then said, "Well, as you're probably aware, a normal school is designed to teach teachers how to teach. I teach them how to introduce basic science into their curriculums."

"Science?" David asked, eagerly shoving another forkful of food into his mouth. At least he was hungry.

"Yes. Science and mathematics. You can't have one without the other." Cooper grinned, but only Amelia seemed to notice. He cleared his throat. "Everyone can use science, you know. You can use science to cross-breed new types of crops, for example. Crops that are draught or bug resistant. Or how to design a wind-mill that -"

"We don't have a windmill," David interrupted.

"But that's what I'm saying. You could design one and then build it and you could use the power to create an automatic well. Or power one of your pieces of farm equipment or -"

"We don't have a windmill," Pa interrupted. Amelia turned to him in shock. Her father was not the type to interrupt. "We don't have the time to design and build one. There's only two of us, working this farm."

Cooper's face fell. He had been researching late 19th-century farm mechanics so that he would have conversation topics for when they visited, even if pure engineering wasn't his forte. Amelia had encouraged him; Pa loved to talk about new ideas with the other farmers, she remembered him reading eagerly in the newspaper about the first steam tractor in the state and wondering aloud if he'd ever see one someday. If Cooper had built a time machine, surely he could help her father make some small improvement here on the farm of which he'd be proud.

Everyone put their head down and there was more moving of green beans around. "Amelia . . . you have a house, then?" Ma asked.

"Yes," Amelia looked up. One of the small white lies they had agreed upon.

"Clapbooard?"

"No, brick."

Ma's eyebrows went up. "Fancy."

"It's not really," Amelia protested. "It's very simple. There's a large room with the . . . stove and the . . . table and the chairs together, like this. And the bedrooms are small."

Cooper put his finger on the back of her hand at the same moment David blurted out, "Bedrooms? Are you rich or something?"

"No, we're not rich," Amelia shoot back at him. Where were his manners tonight? And why was neither Ma or Pa correcting him? "We're just average."

Pa grunted but didn't say anything.

"Is everybody rich in California?" David asked.

"That's enough, David," Pa said, pushing his plate away. 'Finally,' Amelia thought, embarrassed at her little brother's rudeness in front of Cooper. "Come on, we've got to work on that wagon wheel."

"Tonight?" Amelia asked, surprised.

"Ma made a cobbler!" David protested.

"Come on. There's a lot of work to do, and it won't get done sitting around talking about science and fancy houses."

* * *

Pa and David are already gone when Amelia and Cooper came down the ladder the next morning. At least, she assumed David was gone as he was sleeping in the barn while they were here. Amelia had thought it would be exciting, sleeping in the loft again, Cooper by her side, none of that tension from the only other night they'd slept in the loft hanging in the air. But she had found herself rolling and rolling, and even Cooper's breath hadn't settled.

"It's too hot to sleep," she'd whispered to him.

"If you say so," he'd said back, flatly. She wasn't sure what it meant.

"What's Cooper supposed to do?" Amelia asked Ma over breakfast.

"He can help here. He's not used to working the land," Ma said, but she turned her face away.

"But he has good ideas. And he's strong!" Amelia protested. "And he's -"

"Amelia," Cooper interrupted her softly. She turned to him, but he ignored her, looking toward Ma. "I'd be more than happy to help you. Just tell me what to do."

And so it went, for two more days. Pa and David gone when they got up, a day spent in the cabin with Ma, helping with chores. Cooper helped, too, eagerly, and he gallantly carried water and he successfully side-stepped any questions that would give them away. After her initial surprise at this arrangement, Amelia liked having him there. It was always pleasant to be with him, he kept her from saying too much or the wrong thing, and by the end of the first day Ma had warmed up to him considerably. They chatted and Cooper read aloud the newspapers they'd brought from Los Angles as Amelia helped her mother make a new dress.

But so the evenings went, too: more stilted conversations over dinner, the ease of the day gone, Pa finding some excuse to take David out to the barn to work. They stayed out even after Ma announced it was time for bed.

Amelia heard him come in, Pa's boots on the wooden floor, the splash of water in the bowl as he washed a little, the rustle of the mattress as he got into bed, and few hushed and unintelligible words passed between him and Ma.

She heard it all as she failed, again, to sleep.

* * *

"Ugh, it's so hot," Amelia whined, running her exposed forearm across her forehead, brushing away sweat. Her eyes scanned the horizon out the window, wavy in the heat.

"Not any hotter than any other summer day," her mother said, dumping the dough onto the table. "Have you forgotten that all the way out there in California? Come on, help me knead and then we'll take our chairs out to sew in the shade while it bakes. Maybe it will be cooler in the breeze."

"What breeze? I never remember a summer this still." Amelia turned and went to join her mother at the table, spreading flour, taking the ball of dough Ma cut off for her, turning it over and over on the table. "It's a shame Cooper isn't here," she said. "He's an excellent baker."

"Cooper?" Ma shook her head over her own kneading. "Even the menfolk from California are different."

A hint of a smile beckoned the corners of her mouth, but it fled quickly as Amelia raised her eyes to the window again. "Do you think they're okay? I hope they're not too hot."

"They're fine. You father and brother are used to working in this heat. They took plenty of water." When Amelia didn't reply, Ma added, "Although it's not them you're thinking of, is it?"

Amelia shook her head. She could not fathom what had convinced Cooper to head out to the fields today. He was gone when she awoke, surprising her. He must have heard her father getting up. Had he asked to go? Insisted? Just followed along, hoping Pa wouldn't send him away? No, Pa wouldn't send him away. Because that would mean he'd have to talk to him. It wasn't just the heat that was making it hard to breathe here.

"Cooper is a strong man, Amelia. Look at all the water he brought us yesterday. I have to say, I've never seen a city man that strong before."

Smiling, Amelia thought about Cooper's broad shoulders and muscular body. She had been so taken with it when they met, the way the water in his bath glistened over his rippling skin, that she hadn't thought about how he had gotten that way. Later, in the future, she had been informed he went to the gym on campus three days a week after work. It was, he explained, vital to be in top physical condition. "In case I ever have to fight for my life from savages on the way back to my time machine."

Ma chuckled and Amelia looked over at her in surprise. "I remember blushing like that once."

The sudden realization that she had been blushing at the thought of her husband's naked body only made Amelia blush deeper. "I'm not . . ."

"It's just us," her mother said softly. Then she looked back down at her own ball of dough, switching it out for another. "All's well, then? In your . . . marriage?"

Bright red now, Amelia looked back down. "Yes," she whispered. It was more than well. Far more well than her mother had ever implied it could be. Far more well than, Amelia suspected, it had ever been for the woman on the prairie. Cooper had taught her things . . . Perhaps the advent of the Internet had made it more whimsically inventive, after all.

"Any hope of a blessed event in the near future?" her mother asked.

"Oh." Amelia glanced up and then back down. "No, I don't think so." Amelia could not, of course, tell her mother that she wasn't pregnant because she and Cooper had decided not to be. It wasn't in their mutually agreed upon five year plan. She had the choice, in the future, and she had even selected her birth control method based on what would allow her to have the choice continue into which ever past they traveled to. Amelia was amazed, at first, that she could hide a simple ring away inside of herself, and no one would ever know. Of course, she also couldn't tell her mother how powerful this control made her feel, how much freer she was. Science had given her a choice; a choice to have the life she wanted, when she wanted it.

"Well, there's plenty of time yet." Her mother cleared her throat. "I never had any trouble becoming in the family way. And maybe . . . in the city . . . you can take it easier and maybe . . ." her voice trailed away.

Amelia swallowed hard. She didn't know what to say. As long as she could remember, it had happened periodically, long before she understood what it meant. Months in which her mother's body rounded, then the day or two of screaming, young Amelia hiding away, plugging her ears. Even worse than the screaming was the crying and the wailing. Sometimes, she didn't even ripen fully first, she just collapsed and there was blood everywhere. The result was the same: her mother crying under the covers in the bed in the corner, Pa carrying a blanket wrapped baby or almost-baby out to the hill and burying it, his shoulders sagging. He didn't come back for hours when he left that way.

Her parents had never been happier, she thought, than when David was born. The only cries were his - Amelia still remembered how much he cried. That baby cried for months on end, it felt, but her mother never seemed to mind. David: a warrior, a king, one whose house would be established forever. But even David had not been able to fully turn the tide. Again, with the blood and the screaming and the crying. After David, three more graves on the hill. Then nothing.

Amelia had been horribly jealous of David for years, it seemed. He was always in the way, and Ma always doted on him. In her jealousy, Amelia did not see that her father doted on her. Gradually, though, she had softened to David, and now that she was gone, she missed him terribly. Yes, she and Cooper would have children. Someday, when they decided the time was right.

"Ma, I -"

"Never mind me," Ma interrupted, reaching up with her hand to pat a tear off her cheek, smearing flour. "I'm just getting sentimental at having my baby girl home. At last. I suppose you'll want to know all about your school friends, won't you?"

Amelia nodded and returned to kneading as her mother prattled on about all the boys and girls she's gone to school with. They'd all paired off, it seemed, and several of them already had their own babies. She laughed at her mother's stories, expressing surprise at a particularly unexpected pairing and even gasping loudly when her mother leaned close, as they slid the last loaf of bread into the stove, and whispered, "They _had_ to get married, you see. Their own blessed event came only six months later."

Then she bit her tongue to keep from smiling, not at the stigma that leeched to those former classmates, of course, but that her mother was only telling her because she was a married woman herself, now. That was one of the last barriers between women in the past, between the married and the unmarried. Amelia was relieved that it was not so in the future, thinking of Leo and Penelope living in sin across the hallway.

They took their chairs out to sit under the shade tree, hoping to catch a breeze, but today was just as still as the days that proceeded it. The air was thick with moisture. They sewed peacefully in silence for a while, piecing together the last of Ma's new dress.

"I think there's enough of this fabric left over I can make your father a new shirt," Ma said. "Cooper was very helpful laying out the pattern pieces."

Amelia nodded in an absent-minded way. "He's very good at math, at seeing patterns in puzzles." She took a deep breath. "Ma? Is Pa angry with me?"

Ma looked down at her stitches and seemed to think before replying, "It's a lot to take in. It was a very sudden change, you know. Unexpected."

About to point out that didn't actually answer her question, Amelia heard the sound of a horses nighing and a faint voice in the distance. She stood up sharply, laying her sewing on the chair. "They're back! Early!"

She ran a few steps farther, into the yard proper, and watched the horses and the plow and the three men come over the rise and head toward the barn. There was a pause at the barn door, and then Cooper started toward the cabin. Amelia met him at the door, and she frowned at his appearance. His light blue shirt was dirty and sweaty and it clung to him. "Cooper, you're back!"

"Yes," he said. "I wasn't likely to get lost with your father."

"You're earlier than we expected," Ma offered, coming up close now herself.

"Apparently the required work was done."

"Let me get you some water," Amelia said quickly, ducking inside the cabin. She was lost, having never seen Cooper this . . . defeated before. His entire body seemed to sag and his eyes seemed so distant. What had happened out there in the field? Was it just the heat and the sun? The effort of the work? She wanted to talk to him freely, to hold him close, to comfort him, but she couldn't do so in this small cabin, with Ma there. At least Ma seemed to be trying to give them some privacy, moving away and saying softly, "I'll start making dinner. You all must be hungry. The bread will be done soon."

While Amelia was pouring water from the jug for him, Cooper came to stand very close to her. "Amelia? Will you do me a favor?"

"Of course."

"Will you put some water on to boil for me?"

Amelia furrowed her brow and looked up at him. "Do you want hot tea after working outside all day? You're drenched in sweat."

Leaning close, he whispered in her ear, "No, I need it to try and sterilize my hands. Perhaps we should consider bringing a first aid kit with antibiotic ointment along in the future."

Then he turned his palms upright, and Amelia gasped. His hands, his beautiful, soft hands, were laced with scratches and lacerations, and blisters were rising along his palms. She reached out to cradle them in her own hands. "What happened?"

He shrugged. "It takes more force to hold the reins while the horses plow than it looks."

Quickly, Amelia moved to put the kettle on to boil and got some clean cotton out of the stack of extra fabric Ma always set aside until she had enough to make a quilt. Silently, she waited and tried to keep from pacing, as Cooper went to sit with equal stillness in his chair. After the water was hot she got down on her knees in front of him and gently washed Cooper's hands, her anger growing with every wince he made. As she was tying the last rudimentary bandage, Cooper whispered, "Please don't be angry."

"I'm not angry with you," she whispered back, through clenched teeth.

Her mother shifted further away from them, and Cooper glanced over at her before he whispered, "I volunteered. He didn't even ask me to do it. He didn't ask me to do anything. He even tried to stop me after he saw my hands."

"Why then?" Amelia asked.

"I guess I was hoping he would see that I was worthy of you."

Amelia looked up at his beautiful blue eyes. His fair skin, the first thing she ever noticed about him, the first thing she ever loved about him, was starting to develop a pinkish hue. A sunburn. How could this intelligent, handsome, kind man ever think he wasn't worthy of her? Why would he ever think such a thing, even for a second?

'Because he's been treated like it for three days now,' she thought, her rage reaching the boiling point. She stood sharply.

"Please, Amelia, don't. Don't do anything you'll regret," Cooper pleaded softly.

"No. I should have done this on the train platform." She turned on her heel and stormed out toward the barn.

To be continued . . .

* * *

 _ **Thank you in advance for your reviews!**_


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

* * *

Her brother was there, helping Pa throw hay into the stalls, both of them just as sweaty as Cooper had been.

"David, go inside," she said sharply.

"But -" he started.

"I said go." Amelia held out her hand for the pitchfork, and he handed it to her.

Pa turned around to look at her. "Why did you do that? Now you'll have to help me finish."

Amelia waited for the sounds of David's footfalls lessening. "Why did you do it? What you did today? Did you see his hands? You know he's a professor, not a farmer!"

"I didn't ask him to do anything. He insisted. He may be a professor, but he's just as stubborn as a mule. Carrying on like he has something to prove." Pa shook his head as he pitched some more hay.

"How do you think he got that idea?" Amelia put her free hand on her hip. "Maybe because you've done nothing but ignore him ever since we got here. You haven't said five words to him!"

Pa turned around to face her. "Don't speak to your father in that way, little missy! You may be some highfaluting big city professor's wife, but you're still my daughter and you will treat me with respect."

"Why should I, when you won't treat my husband with any?"

Pa ran his hand through his hair. "What did you think was going to happen? You just up and disappeared on us, leaving us a note with no information in regards to your whereabouts. Do you know how I asked every single person in town if they'd seen you? Or this mysterious man you eloped with? I even drove to Independence to the depot to ask about you. Do you know why? Because we were sick with worry for you. Nothing, not one single letter from you for months! Then, suddenly, you write and tell us to meet your train without so much as a by your leave? What did you expect? Did you think everything was just going to be perfect?"

"But you said I needed someone to come and take me away," Amelia stammered, not even caring if her father realized she had heard him say that one night while eavesdropping, when she was supposed to be asleep.

"Not like this! You didn't even get married before you left; I inquired! You can't keep that sort of thing secret around here, you know. Your mother cried for weeks! Did you ever think about that? Christ, Amelia!"

Amelia turned away, hot tears stinging her eyes, blindly plunging the pitchfork into the hay. She had never heard her father use profanity before. Or seen him that angry. She didn't want him to see her like this, and she shielded her face from his reproving gaze with her hands. She was suddenly ashamed, but she was still angry enough she didn't want her father to see her tears. But a sob escaped before she could stop it, and the next thing she knew her father's arms were around her. He smelled like the father she had always known, the playful, gentle man who had protected her and indulged her whims.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have cursed," he said.

"You don't have to take your anger out on Cooper," Amelia sobbed. "I promise he respected my honor. We were married before -" she stopped, embarrassed to even reference _that_ in front of her father. Also, it felt a little bit like lying, even though it was true. She had offered herself to him, that night in the cabin. It was only his honor, not hers, that kept it from being a lie.

"Shhhh, I know."

"You know?" Amelia looked up at him, through her fingers.

"He's a good man, Amelia." He shrugged. "I can just tell, I suppose. I don't think he'd take advantage of you."

Amelia shook her head. No, he'd never taken advantage of her.

"But it's still so . . . odd." Pa let her go and ran his hand through his hair again, the way he did when he was confused or overwhelmed. "No one saw him arrive. Or saw you two leave. And why this farm of all places? How did he end up here?"

"I - He -" Amelia took a deep breath. "It was meant to be. It's the only way I can describe it."

Pa eyed her for a moment and then shook his head again. "You're just as stubborn as he is, you know? You're determined not to tell me, and there's nothing I can do about that. All those books, I suppose."

"You bought me all those books," Amelia protested.

He nodded. "Most men want a son first. Several sons, even, to help them do the work. But I was so happy to have a little girl. Someone to stay at home, to read everything I never had the time or opportunity to." Looking away from her, out the open barn door, he ended softly, "I would have loved to have been a professor."

Her hand found its way to her chest, and Amelia opened her eyes wide. She had never known that. She knew her father liked to read to her when she was little, and, later, he always asked her to read to them at night, before the fire. A new book twice a year, one each for Christmas and her birthday. An unheard of luxury. But she had no idea that he hadn't wanted to be a farmer, that he hadn't wanted the life he had.

"Pa?"

Turning his back to her, he walked to lean against the barn door, still looking toward the cabin. "I wanted to finish school. To leave. To live in a city. Maybe even to write. Sometimes, working endlessly out there in the field, all you can do is tell yourself stories." He paused and scuffed his boot in the dirt floor. "I don't know what it is you think you can't tell me. I don't know what secret is so great you think that I can't understand it. Do you think it would have stopped me from letting you leave with him? He's a good man. If you had waited, if you'd introduced us proper-like, I would have given you my blessing. I would have let you leave with him."

Amelia put her head down, even though Pa couldn't see her. She knew he was wrong. There was one thing so great, one thing he couldn't imagine because the book hadn't been written yet, that would have prevented him from letting her leave with his blessing. A time machine.

Sharply, he turned about around. "I've sinned, Amelia."

"What?" Amelia's eyebrows went up.

"I'm jealous. Of you. Of him. Life here is full of disappointments. Drudgery, storms, lost crops, lost -" his breath caught "- lost children. Your mother is the only thing that held me here, that held me together sometimes. And you. And David. I hope in your city life, in your pretty house and your fine clothes, that Cooper does that for you. Holds you together. Gives you the life you deserve."

"Oh, Pa," Amy whimpered and ran to hug him. He wrapped his arms around her again. "He does. He really, really does. I love him so much."

"Then that's enough for me." He kissed the top of her head. "Here, help me with the rest of this hay."

Several minutes later, they walked back to the cabin together, Amelia sweating through her dress. But, for the first time since they'd arrived, a faint breeze was stirring, tickling at the hairs that had loosened from her braids and were sticking to the back of her neck. Cooper stood sharply when they entered, his eyes searching hers. She smiled softly and took the mug of water Ma held out for her. David was setting the table, and the chairs had returned from outside.

Pa, though, ignored the mug of water Ma held out for him, and strode over to spot where Cooper was standing. He put out his hand. "Cooper. I owe you an apology. I've behaved terribly. My daughter is lucky to have you, and you bring her all the happiness she deserves."

Cooper started to put out his own bandaged right hand, and Ma said sharply, "Ed, his hands."

"No." Cooper put up his left hand to silence her. "It's fine."

Even though it must have pained him, Amelia watched as Cooper shook her father's hand, firm and sure and strong, not even wincing.

* * *

That night, after dinner, Pa stayed in the cabin, lighting his pipe and stretching his feet out toward the stove, as was his habit even when it was not cold enough to need to warm his feet. It had starting storming, great buckets of rain, breaking the tension and the humidity in the summer air.

"Cooper, do you want a pipe? I have another one around here somewhere," he asked.

"Um, no, sir -" His eyebrows were high on his head.

"Call me Ed."

"Ed, sir. I don't smoke, and you shouldn't, either. Inhalation of tobacco smoker has been irrevocably linked to a highly increased incident of lung cancer along with being a major risk factor for several ailments." Amelia's shoulders tensed. Cooper was so flustered he'd technically just polluted the time line. Exactly what he'd agreed not to do, the rule he'd agreed to, the one he was actually better at than her. He'd even given it a name, what was it? The prime directive?

Pa chuckled. "I haven't known you long, but that sounds exactly like something you'd say."

Her shoulders relaxed, and then Pa said, "Amelia, go get that book on our bedside table. It's your birthday present. I hope you don't mind that I started it without you."

Humbled that her father had bought a book, hoping she would return someday, Amelia started to say that her birthday was still two months away, but remembered to hold her tongue just in time. Oh, yes, it had already been her birthday here. She would have to get used to that: traveling from one time of year and ending up in another. Amelia went to get the book. She smiled at the cover: _Around the World in Eighty Days_ by Jules Verne.

"Thank you, Pa," she said, putting her hand on his shoulder.

He patted her hand. "Sit down and read to us. It's a scientific romance, have you heard of that?"

"Actually, I've read one of Verne's other books," Amelia said, not wanting to seem ungrateful.

Pa nodded. "Yes, I'm sure you're reading all sorts of things before we do out there. Start at the beginning if you like. Or the bookmark."

The bookmark was near the end; Pa was almost finished. She would start there, so he would hear the end before she left. Opening the book, she started to read, "'But what then? What had he really gained by all this trouble? What had he brought back from this long and weary journey? Nothing, you say? Perhaps so; nothing but a charming woman, who, strange as it may appear, made him the happiest of men! Truly, would you not for less than that make the tour around the world?'"

Amelia looked over at the top of the page, as Cooper leaned back in his chair, too, and stretched out his legs. Unlike Pa, though, he wasn't staring off into the distance, lost in thought. He was watching her, smiling.

To be continued . . .

* * *

 ** _Thank you in advance for your reviews!_**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

* * *

Amelia leaned in closer, burying her face in his neck, taking a deep breath of his scent. "I've missed you, Brownie."

"Are you sure this is okay, Amelia? Are you sure your father doesn't need my help today?" Cooper asked from the next stall over, where he was brushing Blondie the way Amelia had shown him. Only the slow speed belied his unsurety with this new task. Then again, maybe he was just being meticulous as was his nature.

"I'm certain. There is too much work to be done here to offer a day off when it cannot be taken. Even last summer, Pa was talking about the need to rebuild that section of the paddock fence." Amelia put her own brush down. "Come here, and I'll show how to put the saddle on. And then I'll need to adjust the stirrups for you."

"But aren't you using the saddle?" Cooper asked, turning town her.

"No, I'll let you have it. I am both more used to horses in general, and I've ridden bareback before many times. It takes more coordination."

Cooper came to stand near to her, and put his hand out to touch the heavy leather. "But isn't riding bareback painful for you?"

Amelia shrugged. "Less comfortable than a saddle, maybe, but not painful. But that's another reason you should have the saddle."

"But won't your father think I'm being unchivalrous? Or that I'm uncoordinated?"

A smile playing at her lips, Amelia replied, "No. He knows I can ride bareback, and I think he presumes that you have not."

"Can we both ride bareback? It seems the logical solution. And if it is how you have done it before, I would like to experience it."

Amelia studied his ernest blue eyes for a moment before nodding. "Alright. But you have to follow my instructions so that you don't frighten or injure the horse."

"I will."

"And you should ride Brownie, then. He is more used to it than Blondie."

"I will."

Amelia helped Cooper place the bit and the reins. Amelia quickly put Brownie's bridle on him and walked him out of his stall. She held the big horse firmly while Cooper used the rail of the stall to help him heave his leg across Brownie's broad back. "Whoa, boy, whoa," she soothed her favorite horse.

She handed her husband the reins. "Cooper, move forward, so you're not squeezing his stomach. To here, this crease behind his shoulders. You can hold the rein slack; he knows what he's doing."

Enjoying the role reversal, she explained how to grips the reins, the correct way to sit and balance, and warned him of things he should not do. To his credit, Cooper complied with all her directions without comment or disagreement. Lastly, Amelia instructed him on all the proper commands before she opened the barn door. "Now walk him out to here."

Cooper made the correct noise, and Brownie walked slowly out of the barn. He was so well trained he had already stopped before Cooper even told him to, but Amelia didn't point it out as Cooper looked so pleased with himself. She quickly put the full saddlebags over Blondie's withers and swung her own legs over behind. It felt strange, after all her civilized equestrian lessons. She had missed it, though, being this close to her horse.

Coming up beside Cooper and Brownie, she asked, "How is it? Are you ready?"

"It's . . . strange. I'm a little frightened to think I am at this giant beast's mercy. And," he shifted slightly above the horse, "you're right, it's uncomfortable."

"You'll get used to it. It's always strange to ride a horse the first time," Amelia smiled. "Don't worry about Brownie, he's as gentle as can be. And it's only about a twenty minute ride. We could easily walk there."

"Then why are we riding?"

"Because I wanted to. And because Pa and David are repairing the paddock, remember? If we didn't ride the horses, they'd be stuck in the barn all day." The more Amelia thought about it, the more she thought that maybe this wasn't all coincidental, after all. She shook her head slightly and led the way out of the barn, turning behind her to watch Brownie following her. She knew Brownie would follow without much direction from Cooper, and he could just enjoy the ride. She hoped.

About five minutes out, Brownie had come to walk beside Blondie in the easy pace Amelia had set, which meant she could now talk to Cooper.

"It is already so hot," he complained. "And it's still early."

"At least there's a breeze now. I love these summer breezes. That's the type of summer I remember, not the miserable days we just had." She turned her face and smiled. "As for the heat, why do you think we're going to the swimming hole?"

"Swimming hole? You said we were picnicking in your favorite place!"

"Which is the swimming hole. There's shade and the water is always cool. It's lovely." She paused. "Besides, I wasn't sure if you'd come if I suggested swimming in a natural pond."

"Are there fish?"

"Not really. Maybe a few minnows. It's really just a wide spot in the creek and the water moves through it too quickly, I think."

"Well, if the water moves quickly, at least it's a little cleaner," Cooper agreed. He lifted an arm to wipe his forehead. "How can you stand this heat?"

"You get used to it. You go to the swimming hole." Amelia looked over at him. "We're alone. You can take off your shirt, if you want." She pulled on the reins to stop Blondie, and Brownie came to a stop, also.

Cooper gave her the look again that she knew meant he was debating the idea she had given him. He let go of the reins and sighed. "Very well. Since I've got a sunburn already."

Amelia smiled as he lowered his suspenders and unbuttoned his shirt. His chest and shoulder muscles rippled as he removed it, folding it twice lengthwise before lying it in front of him. "Is it okay here?"

"Yes, that should be fine. Come on." Nudging Blondie, the two horses started again, skirting the edge of a plowed field. They shortly came to walk along a creek that curved into their path. The wind had picked up as they had ridden, and now it was blowing quite strong. Amelia scanned the skies, but there was no evidence of any thunderclouds.

"See that clump of trees? That's where we're -" Amelia turned to Cooper, who had fallen slightly behind her again, the words dying in her parched mouth. Cooper's hair wasn't long, of course, but the wind was strong enough that it was blowing back away from his face as he rode his horse, bareback and bare-chested.

The possibility of that sight had not entered into Amelia's plans for the day, but it was already the highlight. The man she loved, sharing one of her favorite activities, on the prairie she loved so much, looking like that. She was certain the sun could not compare to the heat radiating off her at that moment. Then Cooper smiled slyly at her. She quickly picked up her slackened jaw and turned forward again. She couldn't believe that after four months of marriage, he had reduced her to stumbling and blushing like a maiden again.

They rode the rest of the way in silence, although Brownie and Cooper had made their way next to her again. She pulled Blondie back slightly so she could watch Cooper's beautiful form out of the corner of her eye. The horses had picked up speed a bit on their own, realizing where they were probably headed, excited at the prospect of the prairie grasses that grew tall and sweet in the shade along the banks of the creek.

When they arrived at the small cluster of trees, Amelia hopped down with ease. She walked over to hold Brownie's reins again. "Just hold his mane, lean forward if you need to, and swing your leg back and over."

Cooper landed on the ground with a thump and groan. "How did men here manage to procreate?"

"We can test it to see if it still works," Amelia said. Pausing, she allowed a peal of laughter to escape as Cooper's eyes met hers. "Come on, we'll stake the horses and go rest in the shade."

The horses were staked, the quilt was spread under the tree, the saddle bags unpacked of food. They sat in the shade, already cooler because of the wind and the proximity to the swimming hole. Amelia took off her shoes and stockings, and pulled her dress up above her knees. It was a relief to be alone, at last, to really talk, not to be constantly guarding their words, constantly remembering their cover story, leaving out far too many details.

"Cooper, I was thinking - " she started, changing the topic away from the windmill plans Cooper had drawn up for her father that they had poured over together the evening before, after spending the day together, scouting the best location.

"Yes?" he looked over at her.

"As much as I love summer, I don't think we should travel out of season again. It's spring in California, and it feels strange to be summer here."

"Hmmmmm . . . yes, we can probably manage that. Unless there's a time traveling emergency."

Amelia smiled. "And what would that be?"

"You never know."

They both chuckled softly, and a natural lull in the conversation fell. Amelia was watching the horses, their manes swishing in the breeze.

"Are you ready to leave tomorrow? To go . . . home?" Cooper asked suddenly, breaking her thoughts.

Surprised, Amelia raised her eyebrows. Then she nodded firmly as she chewed her last bite of bread, her father's words ringing in her ears. "Actually, yes. I love this - being here, being peaceful on the prairie with the breeze and the horses - but I realize now I would have never been happy and fulfilled with this life."

"Good," Cooper said with surprising emotion.

"Cooper?" She turned to look at him.

He looked down at the quilt. "I was worried . . . that you might ask me to leave you behind. That you'd regret leaving, that this was still your home."

She reached out and lifted his chin with her hand. She saw in his eyes that he would have done it, if she'd asked. She saw that he worried a little that that was what she wanted all along, even as they planned this trip together. And yet he'd still brought her. She fell in love with him all over again. "No. What was it Emily Dickinson said? 'Where thou art, that is home.'"

Cooper smiled at her, but it looked sad.

Suddenly, she understood something else. "Cooper, did you know it would be like . . . like it was? Did you know Pa would be . . . angry?"

Looking away from her, loosening his chin from her touch, Cooper swallowed deeply. "I suspected he would, yes."

"Why didn't you say something to me?"

"Because you were so excited to come. So optimistic. Yes, overly-so, but I never want to crush that; if you weren't so optimistic and impulsive, I would have never won your heart. You would have never come back with me." He turned toward her again. "And I understand him. I can't imagine what it would be like to come home one day and find you gone."

"Never," Amelia said firmly. "Never. In any time or any place." She leaned forward to kiss his cheek gently. Wanting to break the melancholy, wanting to enjoy the summer day alone with Cooper, she said lightly, "My only wish is that there was one of those magic mailboxes."

"Magic mailboxes?" Cooper raised an eyebrow.

"Yes. I watched this movie with Penelope - _The Lake House_ \- and they were able to put their letters in a magic mailbox to send them to a different time. Then I could write to my parents and they could write back."

Cooper shook his head. "You shouldn't let Penelope fill your head with such nonsense, you know."

"How is it nonsense?" Amelia shot back. "You invented a time machine! Less than two weeks ago, we were living in 21st-century Los Angles, eating Thai take-out and playing a Lego video game. You could invent a magic mailbox, you know. It's just a miniature time machine. Everyone has to get an idea somewhere. Just like that H. G. Wells book gave you the idea to build a time machine. Right now, no one can imagine a time machine. But in eight years, they'll all be reading about them."

First he smiled at her, and then suddenly his mouth went slack. "Amelia, you're a genius! That's it!"

"What's it?" she asked.

Cooper reached out to grab her hand, the scabs of his single day as a farmer scratching her skin. "What if H. G. Wells didn't give me the idea? What if _I_ gave _him_ the idea?"

"What do you mean?"

"We go back in time, we befriend H. G. Wells before he becomes famous, we give him the idea of a time machine." His face was glowing, the idea swirling across it.

"Well, okay, that could have happened. Or could be how it will happen." Amelia shook her head at the paradox. "But that doesn't solve our mail problem."

"It could, though, don't you see? We already have period appropriate stationary that we bought in L.A., correct?" Amelia nodded. "So you write letters, we take them to Wells via time machine, he posts them. He's contemporary to this time. He's getting his college degree in England as we speak. The distance and faults in trans-Atlantic mail service at this time would explain any odd delays. Your parents write back, he saves them for us, we pick them up at the same time we go back to deliver more. And that's how he knows about the time machine!"

Amelia's breath caught. Could it . . . ? "But you mean I'd write several to take to him, and he'd sent them off one or two at a time? And we'd pick up a packet from him at one time?"

"Yes, I think so. Otherwise we'd have to buy a house there, set up a life there, too. We can't do that, live two lives. But long weekend every two or three months?" Cooper nodded, his eyes still bright. "Yes, it could work, I think."

"Wait," Amelia's face fell. "No, it does't work. How would my parents letters from Kansas get to England? If they're mailing them to California? And, even though we would be taking our letters to England, wouldn't that just confuse my parents? To see a British stamp?"

Cooper cocked his head. "Hmmmmm . . . " He put his index finger up to touch his chin. "You know, this could be better . . . The Normal School in L.A. will remain a teaching college for many years. And I'm too brilliant to be teaching at just a teaching college, even in our ruse. But if we say I got a job at Oxford, with its nascent physics program . . . Amelia, does our cover story have to be L.A.?

"Are you asking me to pretend to move to Victorian England with you?"

"I am."

"Oh, Cooper!" Amelia threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his waist. "I love you so much!"

He patted her back, saying into the top of her head, "Save some of that enthusiasm for when we succeed."

His arms felt wonderful around her. They'd been so careful here to not display any inappropriate affection. It just wasn't done. But, sadly, she pulled away, his body making her too hot through all her clothes.

"Come on," she said, reaching up to unbutton her dress, "let's go swimming. I'm hot."

"I'm not swimming. I have nothing to wear," Cooper said. "And what did you bring to swim in? You can't swim in your underwear, they'll be chafing later if you do."

"Underwear?" Amelia screwed up her face as she stood to step out of her dress. "No, Cooper, I'm swimming naked." She removed the time machine fob hanging around her neck and carefully placed in deep into the saddlebag so it wouldn't get lost.

"Skinny dipping!" Cooper almost shouted. "Anyone could see you!"

Laughing, Amelia slipped out of her chemise. "Who would that be? There are no neighbors that would walk through this way. And Ma and Pa knew we were swimming. We've always left those swimming alone for just this reason. Ma and I might swim together or Pa and David, that's it." She paused. "And since when are you shy about being wet and naked in front of stranger?"

Her pantaloons were the last article of clothing to go, and she took a deep breath as the cooler air rushed at her body. Finally, for the first time since they'd arrived, she felt free. She reached up to undo her braids, wanting even her hair to experience this freedom. Ignoring Cooper, she walked toward the edge of the creek, out of the shade.

She stepped into the cool water, the sharp stones biting into the soles of her feet. Despite that, it felt so glorious to be unencumbered by layers of clothes, to feel the summer wind on her bare skin, the heat of the sun full upon her naked backside. Up to her ankles, she reached back for her hair and pulled it over her shoulder. She turned her head further, looking over her shoulder at Cooper, still resting bare-chested in the shade under the tree. "Are you sure you won't join me? I brought soap, too. It's in the saddle bag. You know you've been desperate for a bath . . ."

He stood without reply and reached down for the buttons on his pants.

"So, that's a yes?" Amelia asked.

"Don't act surprised. You pretend to be all innocent, batting your eyelashes, but you know you look like a sexy water nymph standing there naked, looking at me like that," he said, bending down to untie his shoes. "And you know I can't resist bathing with you."

Amelia laughed and ran into the pond, jumping forward at the last minute, shrieking at the cold rush of water on her skin. When she surfaced, pushing her wet hair back from her face, Cooper was tiptoeing in, his body so long and pale except for his sunburned forearms and face, the cake of soap in his hand. "Hurry up! The sooner you get in the less likely some wondering person will see you naked!"

He smiled at her, out of the top of his eyes, murmured, "oh, Lordy," and then ran into the water next to her, splashing the whole way. They laughed and splashed and scrubbed each other's hair and floated next to one another, talking further, until they decided to get out. Cooper led the way back to the quilt under the tree and sat down with a solid plump.

"I have to admit, Amelia, that was fun. Now, do you have anything to serve as a towel?" he asked.

"Of course." Getting a towel out of the saddle bag she threw it to him, and he immediately raised his arms to use it on his hair. She watched the water glisten on his skin, as his muscles rippled beneath his broad chest . . . Gosh, she loved soaping him up. She moved closer to him.

"Amelia, what are you doing?" he asked, pulling the towel down with one hand.

"What does it feel like I'm doing?" She shimmied on top of his lap. "Testing the equipment." She softly shook and rubbed her body against him. "It seems to be fully functional."

"But what if someone sees us?" he asked, his voice already horse and full of desire.

"What did I tell you about swimming? Ma and Pa will leave us alone, they know we've gone swimming." It crossed her mind for the second time that day that maybe her parents knew more about her plans than they let on. "And you know I can't resist drying you off."

"Well, if you're sure . . ." Cooper pulled her in for a kiss. And they made love on the prairie, Cooper's arms around her, the sparks and current running between them, just as it had on the prairie all those months ago.

THE END

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 ** _Thank you in advance for your reviews! Coopmelia forever!_**

 ** _The adventures continue in_ Amelia and The Bee's Knees _. . ._**


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